Kelly Allison

            The alphabet was just a simple system of characters which changed the face of civilization during the 18^th century BCE.  The alphabet democratized civilization because before the alphabet, only educated scholars knew how to communicate through reading, with the usage of thousands of characters.  The average citizen did not know how to read these characters, so in hierarchy, this ignorance put civilians below these educated scholars who traded and recorded knowledge through writings and scrolls. 

            The actual letters of the alphabet are derived from Old Canaanite Script which evolved into the linear shaped letters which are called Early Phoenician Linear.  Early Phoenician was then evolved into the Greek alphabet.  There is a theory that the invention of the alphabet was based on the acrophonic principle, which means that words would be spell out by a using the first sound of each picture drawn.  With the alphabet, literacy was no longer reserved to the crown and the temple, and ordinary people began to use the powers of reading and writing.  The writing system was very simple to learn with the alphabet.  After 1200 BCE, there were only 22 characters in the alphabet to learn, in addition to the consonant sounds.  Myth, ritual, magic, and medicine were now available to be understood by all people.  Also, logic and skepticism became much more widespread among non-scholars and non-royals.  People began to analyze their positions in society much more, and they realized that they were being limited by lacking literacy. 

            Archaeology plays a huge role in helping bible scholars today.  Archaeology is the scientific examination of material remains from humans in the past.  Archaeologists usually explore “tells” or small mounds to study civilizations from different time periods.  The layers, or strata, identify artifacts from different time periods.  The deeper archaeologists dig, the older the artifacts become, and we can see how the civilizations progressively changed.  Archaeology has been called a “destructive science” because once something is uncovered, it can never be uncovered again, but it is necessary to do so in order to learn.  It just extremely vital to keep detailed records of where artifacts were found and also, how deep into the strata they were found.  These records should also be published.  These records are so important in reference to the bible because some believe that the stories of the bible are completely made up, but if historical evidence of events in the bible is found, we can find leads on many people, places, and events that are mentioned in the bible. 

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 13th, 2009 at 11:20 pm and is filed under Week 03: Your Project. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.